Yes. The Church permits cremation, as long as it is not chosen as a way of denying that the body will rise again. The Vatican names sanitary, economic and social reasons as legitimate ones, and a Catholic who is cremated for reasons like these can have a Catholic funeral.
What the Church does ask concerns the ashes. They belong in a sacred place, such as a cemetery or a church columbarium. Keeping them on a shelf at home, scattering them, or turning them into keepsakes is not permitted, apart from narrow exceptions explained below.
What the Church teaches
The Catechism says it in one sentence: “The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.” Just before that, it asks that the bodies of the dead be treated “with respect and charity, in faith and hope of the Resurrection.” Catechism 2300–2301
Canon law says the same thing from the other side. The Church “earnestly recommends” the custom of burial, but it “does not prohibit cremation unless it was chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine.” The law withholds a Church funeral over cremation only when it was chosen for those reasons, and even then not if the person gave some sign of repentance before death. Canons 1176 and 1184
Why burial is still preferred
Christians bury their dead because they believe those same people will rise. The Vatican’s 2016 instruction on burial, Ad resurgendum cum Christo, calls burial “above all the most fitting way to express faith and hope in the resurrection of the body.” A grave also gives a family somewhere to go. Tombs, the instruction notes, have become “places of prayer, remembrance and reflection.” Ad resurgendum cum Christo, 3 and 5
Where the ashes should go
The same instruction is specific: the ashes “must be laid to rest in a sacred place,” such as a cemetery or, in certain cases, a church or an area that Church authority has set aside for that purpose. It gives plain reasons. Resting there keeps the dead in the prayers of their family and the Church, prevents them from being forgotten, and protects their remains from being treated without respect once the generation that knew them has passed. Ad resurgendum cum Christo, 5
That rules out a few common practices. Keeping ashes in a home is not permitted. Only in grave and exceptional cases, tied to local cultural conditions, may a bishop allow it, and then only with the agreement of his bishops’ conference. The instruction also says “it is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way,” nor to keep them “in mementos, pieces of jewelry or other objects.” Ad resurgendum cum Christo, 6 and 7
A 2023 clarification
In December 2023 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith answered two questions from Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna. A permanent sacred place may hold the ashes of many people together, as long as each person’s name is recorded. And Church authorities may consider a family’s request to keep “a minimal part of the ashes” in a place that mattered in the person’s life, provided the ashes are kept in a sacred place and any pantheistic, naturalistic or nihilistic meaning is ruled out. It is a narrow exception that needs Church approval. Reply to Cardinal Zuppi (2023)
If you are making these decisions
Talk to your parish early. A priest can explain the funeral options, and your diocese can tell you where ashes can be interred nearby. If a relative’s ashes have been sitting at home for years, it is not too late to lay them to rest in a cemetery or columbarium.
However a loved one was laid to rest, the Church’s prayer for them is the same. Our guide to praying for the dead on All Souls Day walks through how. How to pray for the dead
